The Boulder City Council put off a decision Tuesday night on what metrics the city should use to determine if potential municipalization of the city's energy supply makes financial sense.

When voters narrowly authorized the city to pursue municipalization last fall, they approved a charter amendment that lays out the conditions under which the city could form its own energy utility. Those include being able to acquire the electrical distribution system and charge rates that don't exceed Xcel's rates at the time of acquisition, being able to guarantee those rates will be sufficient to cover operating expenses and debt payments, as well as an amount equal to 25 percent of debt payments, ensuring reliability comparable to Xcel and having a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase renewable energy sources.

The city also will have to present its evidence to an independent, third-party evaluator.

City officials had prepared specific metrics that they would use to determine if municipalization met those requirements, which are open to interpretation and can be calculated in a variety of ways.

However, some community members asked that the item be pulled from the agenda because they hadn't had time to review it, and some City Council members said the third-party evaluator should be able to come up with his or her own metrics.

The City Council expects to take the matter up again in November, most likely at the Nov. 15 meeting.

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